Gloucester claim 10-try thriller

Gloucester beat Newcastle 40-33 at Kingsholm on Saturday in a Premiership clash that saw the sides score five tries apiece.

Gloucester beat Newcastle 40-33 at Kingsholm on Saturday in a Premiership clash that saw the sides score five tries apiece.

Falcons slipped to their eleventh consecutive Premiership defeat, but they come close to completing an incredible late comeback.

Gloucester started the better, and put their territorial advantage to good use, with Sione Kalamafoni scoring after 18 minutes, but were pegged back by Chris York.

The hosts quickly put another score on the board though, as Rob Cook went over before adding a penalty to lead 17-7 at half time.

The home side started the second half where they left the first, with a penalty from Cook and a try, this time from James Hudson, before Mike Tindall and Jonny May sealed the victory, with George McGuigan, Andy Saull, Alex Tait and Noah Cato going over to secure two bonus points for the Falcons.

Gloucester had the better of the opening 10 minutes in terms of possession and territory, and were awarded a seemingly simple penalty from 20 metres out to take the lead, but Phil Godman's kick fell wide of the mark.

The hosts were in danger of undoing their hard work just two minutes later as Hudson was sent to the sin bin for coming in at the side of the maul, but after fending off a promising Falcons attack, Kalamafoni went over, before Cook converted to put them 7-0 up.

After a quiet spell, Newcastle finally managed to make use of their numerical advantage, as Godman found York on the overlap, with the fly-half converting from out wide.

Shortly after Hudson returned to the field, Gloucester scored their second try, as Cook jinked his way around the Falcons defence to touch down, before converting his try.

Five minutes later, Cook improved upon Godman's earlier effort to add three points to their tally and put them 17-7 up at the break.

Gloucester started the second half quickly and added to their lead as Cook scored his second penalty of the game. Hudson atoned for his first-half sin-binning when he charged down a Newcastle clearance to score, with Cook's conversion seemingly putting the game to bed.

Tindall secured the bonus point for the home side with just over 20 minutes remaining after driving their way over the line, before May ran in their fifth try.

Newcastle pegged the home side back through McGuigan, before Saull scored from a rolling maul to bring the losing bonus point within touching distance.

Matt Kvesic was sin-binned for Gloucester, and Newcastle's fourth try came shortly after through Tait to earn the bonus point.

Despite their late run of tries, the Falcons looked to have been denied any chance of a losing bonus point as Cook's penalty extended the gap to 14 points with five minutes to play, but Newcastle did manage to secure a second bonus point with a converted try through Cato in the last minute.